Automotive vehicles include an instrument panel with instrumentation to provide information about the operations of the vehicle to the vehicle operator, typically in an aesthetically pleasing manner. A wide variety of information about a vehicle—performance, maintenance, orientation, fuel level, door closure, interior temperature, ambient temperature, compasses and so forth—may be displayed in clusters in various locations throughout the instrument panel. The instrument panel may include any number of different display devices (e.g., liquid crystal display (“LCD”), light emitting diode (“LED”), motor driven pointer over appliqué, etcetera).
One drawback of conventional instrument panels is that their packaging is limited primarily by the dimensions of the interior cavity of the automobile as well as the operator's ability to conveniently view the instrumentation. While customer demands regarding vehicle information increase, real estate within the vehicle instrument panel decreases. It is therefore increasingly difficult to display more non-traditional information within the instrument panel along with traditional instrumentation. Moreover, additional instrumentation usually results in additional part and assembly costs.
Another drawback of conventional instrument panels is that the instrumentation cannot be altered by the vehicle operator or in response to vehicle conditions. Spaces in the instrument panel dedicated to fuel level (for example) may not later be changed to display vehicle speed or ambient temperature. Ideally, the vehicle operator prefers to have information displayed in the most convenient location on an as needed or “just-in-time” basis.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved instrument panel and cluster for an automobile. Further, what is needed is an improved manner of configuring a cluster of instrumentation within the instrument panel to display an increased amount of information within the same or smaller amount of space. Further still, what is needed is a reconfigurable and aesthetically pleasing instrument cluster.
The teachings herein below extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned needs.